16 May 2016 - Fifteen cancer charities have said they are "deeply concerned" about new plans for approving innovative cancer medicines for the NHS in England.

In a letter to the prime minister, the charities said many drugs would "now struggle to gain approval".

The medicines regulator has rejected this and said drugs would be approved faster than anywhere else in Europe.

The dispute is over planned changes to the Cancer Drugs Fund - a special pot of money just for cancer medicines.

It currently pays for innovative drugs that have been deemed too expensive for the NHS as a whole.

It includes medicines such as Kadcyla, which initially cost £90,000 per patient, and extends the lives of women with breast cancer by six months on average.

However, the fund was a victim of its own success and has been greatly overspent.

For more details, go to: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-36288353